Brian's Morning Newsletter

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Good Morning

Where to begin? Tired, of course. Right at this moment, I am kind of leaning over my keyboard in a perpetual fetal position, waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in. These pictures are from Saturday, I didn't get around to shooting any pictures Sunday, it was a constant push to get everything done I wanted to accomplish worked through.

First thing Kevin, Ana and I pulled the heavy  sub-woofers out of the attic above the trailer, Kev, loaded the six deep cycle batteries onto the  truck we then   drove the Dodge down to the barn and loaded up the speakers. While we were there we loaded up the lodge-poles from in front of Jack's house to use for the Maypole. One of the cool projects which just seemed to happen was removal of the scrub oak in front of the stage with a pickax so it was easier to move the speakers, batteries  and carpet from the high bed of the Dodge to the stage. While Kevin and I worked on the low voltage wiring Jona install the heavy cable to to the generator. When we got the stereo back up and running I focused on the generator pad, which meant more pick and shovel work.

We had a good crew Sunday, with Brittany and her gang putting the finishing touches on the horno, Sara, Sandy, and Nell got the Maypole set with beautiful ribbons which makes me want to kick myself for not taking pictures, stupid, stupid, perhaps exhaustion due to my elaborate vision of what I felt needed to be done in one one day. Well the good news is everything I hoped for was finished and actually a whole lot more. Jona, bless his heart, after working two jobs during the six days last week, found the motivation to wire up the lights for the stage. Now he and Kevin and going back to Fort Sumner fairgrounds to do more electrical work this morning.

Nell is also off to work. Yeah, I love my part time job, but still it is quite physical. I'll do my best to look alert, but I know it will be tough today working for Desertgate.  I don't care much for working Mondays anyways, with my return to an active lifestyle I don't get a break from the weekend like I used to.  We busted several large rocks from in front of the stage and under the zip-line then picked and dug out a small truckload of rolly-polly ankle-breaker two-pound rocks out of the hill. That there is why I'm hunkered over the keyboard this morning. I know I am not the only one, we had a lot of help out there, and we thank everyone.

So back to what I did take pictures of, the karaoke box, moving and setup crew. Yeah she went in behind the stage real sweet. Elsu moved it with his 4X4 Chevy, yeah like nuthin' his boys asked him what my name was, Elsu said, "While we're here, you call him Boss." I know I acted like one, I hope a gracious and grateful boss. How to express that something needed one little extra push to be perfect, when the help are all volunteers? 

We also setup some chairs and someone built a fire pit down there by the new Tusas costume dressing room, I went back over to the horno and get ready it ready for the pizzas, which Sara, Katie, Ana, and Brittany had made down here at the house while the men-folk  parked the trailer in the arroyo.  The  latest modifications made to the horno were a success, the oven reached  375 degrees quickly and cooked the pizzas in 30 to 45 minutes. Yippee! We sat around the warmth of the oven and ate pizza, oh my goodness, no wonder why I feel like Tusas already happened, this weekend was fer-sure a perfect replica of Tusas, except for all the blisters and sore muscles. Of course now we can relax when Memorial Day arrives, indeed we did a lot of talking about making hammocks. I for one want a hammock very near the stage as my "boss'," monitoring place.

Honestly though, I am sore all over, but my back and sciatica feel great, This morning my sholders are ta=lking to me more than my hip, this all is very encouraging.

–
Brian Rodgers

Visit the forum at: http://outfitnm.com/forum/ or;
leave comments online at: http://outfitnm.com/category/brians-morning-newsletter